Centerview Hires Three BofA Bankers in Technology Push
Centerview Hires Three BofA Bankers in Technology Push
(Bloomberg) -- Three veteran Bank of America Corp. investment bankers in Silicon Valley have left for roles at Centerview Partners, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bank of America’s co-head of investment banking, Jack MacDonald, is joining Centerview along with two senior technology bankers, Steve Miller and Gary Kirkham, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
The moves are part of the trend of boutique advisory firms attracting talent from Wall Street’s biggest firms. Boutiques, many of them founded by big bank veterans, rely on star rainmakers to sell M&A advice in specialized industries instead of selling across product lines as large banks do.
Representatives for Bank of America and Centerview declined to comment.
MacDonald, Miller and Kirkham will be partners at Centerview based in Palo Alto, California, the people said.
New Appointments
Bank of America announced new appointments in the investment bank in a memo Thursday that confirmed the departures of MacDonald and Kirkham. Thomas Sheehan has been named the sole head of global investment banking, after sharing that role with MacDonald, according to the memo.
The leadership reshuffle comes after Bank of America’s investment-banking fees climbed more than 60% in the first quarter to a record $2.2 billion, led by strong advisory fees and a surge in equity-underwriting fees to $900 million. This month the bank promoted Kevin Brunner and Ivan Farman to co‐heads of global mergers and acquisitions.
In New York, Ron Eliasek is now chairman of global technology, media and telecom investment banking, while Sam Powers will become sole head of that operation.
Johnny Williams and Ric Spencer were appointed co-heads of global technology investment banking in Palo Alto.
“We look forward to the collective efforts of these leaders in helping us continue to seize technology investment banking market opportunities,” said Matthew Koder, who runs the company’s global corporate and investment banking division.
Centerview
Since its founding in 2006 by Blair Effron and Robert Pruzan, Centerview has advised on $3 trillion in transactions worldwide, according its website. Its big hires have included poaching star French banker Matthieu Pigasse from Lazard Ltd.
The technology group has advised on assignments such as Qualcomm Inc.’s defense against Broadcom Inc. and it’s also advised clients such as Twilio Inc., Seagate Technology Plc, Bain Capital, Sprint Corp. and CBS, its website showed.
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